The Truth About Temporarily Moving To a Foreign Country on a Budget

It’s hard to think that in the past year, I’ve been to around 10 countries. I’ve also lived abroad for a good chunk of that time. It turns out, living abroad is not that difficult, and you can move for way cheaper than you’d think. My initial perception is that moving abroad on a budget would not be easy or cost-effective. But not everything needs to be luxury travel. There’s plenty you can do while moving abroad on a budget to keep costs down and make it a memorable experience.

One of the biggest challenges of moving abroad on a budget is finding the right place to live. While Europe and Southeast Asia are popular places for those looking to move abroad, that doesn’t mean that will always be the best bet. Many cities in countries in these regions are expensive, so make sure to do your research and find a place that is affordable to your budget and will give you a high quality of life.

This is why I chose Granada, Spain when moving abroad on a budget. When searching around online for ‘top cities to retire to,’ Granada consistently came up on lists. That’s not to say I’m retired. I’m not, although from my lifestyle you might think I was. But before planning my move abroad, I searched on Spot a Home for the best deals. While I could have stayed in a hostel and looked around for a slightly better deal (and avoided a $200 service fee), I knew exactly where I was living, what my move in date was, and how long I’d be staying beforehand.

This allowed me to budget accordingly before I left New York. I knew exactly how much my living expenses would be beforehand. While there are always variables with moving (especially when moving abroad), it helps to have a sense of where you are living beforehand. Still, it’s important to understand that when moving abroad on a budget you need to be able to take your work with you. That’s not to say you need to be running your own business or trying to sell courses on how to run your own business. But it does mean that you want to be doing the kind of work that is sustainable and location-independent.

In the modern internet era, that kind of work generally boils down to digital marketing, coding, translation, web design and virtual assistance. Unfortunately, those jobs all require a pretty specific skill set. It’s actually one that needs to be learned if you’re planning on moving abroad on a budget. Alternatively, you can move abroad, stick in one city and teach English for a while. But I know that pay and lifestyle is not for me, and for a lot of people it might make more sense to budget beforehand.

At the end of the day, moving abroad is a personal choice. It can be isolating and aggravating, and you’ll often feel like a foreigner in the city that you’re attempting to call home. But if you’r ready to have a personal and life-affirming experience, then it’s the type of opportunity that you won’t want to miss.

Definitely some great advice. I’m starting my work from home journey and I hope that one day I can support my family enough that we can travel whenever we want. All I’ll have to do is pack up my laptop and have a plan of attack for while we’re on the road.

Such a greta post! I definitely had a misconception about living overseas being expensive. I can now see why so many travel and live in other countries while being able to afford it. This is a very informative post! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂